My Bits and Bytes: Wii makes good first impression
As I mentioned briefly in my last column, I finally scored a Nintendo Wii and I am already dedicated to that little white box.
The system comes with one controller, one nun-chuck controller attachment and Wii Sports. While I've seen pictures of the console and the Wiimote, I never really went out to take a look at them in the stores. Suffice to say, I was so surprised to see how small and light the console and the controller is. You will never have to worry about getting tired holding the Wiimote up because that thing is one of the lightest controllers I've ever held.
The system takes literally a couple of minutes to set up. You'll spend another 10 minutes or so setting up the Wi-Fi connections if you have a wireless router. Thank goodness I have good friends because I was pissed that there wasn't an Ethernet port on the console or an adapter in the box, so my bud gave me a wireless router that he wasn't using. If you don't want to go wireless or have friends like me, you can go and get an Ethernet USB adapter, but it'll run you about $40.
After your system is all set up and ready to go, you can download the free trial browser and surf the net from the comfort of your TV. If that doesn't float your boat, you'll spend an hour creating Miis (little Lego-like caricatures) of you and your friends to use in the Wii-Sports game.
Before I move onto talking about Wii-Sports, I have to mention that I've dabbled with the virtual console already. It took a few minutes to load up the channel and use my credit card to pay for 3000 Wii points to buy some classic games. The first one I picked up was “Bonk's Adventure,” that used to be only available for the TurboGraphics-16. You can bet that I'm going to be doing some classic reviews in this column from now on! More on Bonk hopefully next week.
As for Wii-Sports, this excellent pack really gives you a taste of where games and the interactivity for the Wii are headed. You can step-up for quick games of tennis, golf, bowling, baseball and boxing. Don't worry, people! Before each game, there's a screen explaining how to hold your Wii-mote and how to play the game. This makes things so easy (just ask my eight guests who played the hell out of Wii-Sports last weekend).
The graphics aren't the best, but you don't notice because you're so into the gameplay. Overall, I've been quite impressed with how easy the Wii is to use and how the games are fresh. They may not be overly complicated but I can't remember the last time having people want to spend all of a party playing video games. That's entertainment, baby.
The system comes with one controller, one nun-chuck controller attachment and Wii Sports. While I've seen pictures of the console and the Wiimote, I never really went out to take a look at them in the stores. Suffice to say, I was so surprised to see how small and light the console and the controller is. You will never have to worry about getting tired holding the Wiimote up because that thing is one of the lightest controllers I've ever held.
The system takes literally a couple of minutes to set up. You'll spend another 10 minutes or so setting up the Wi-Fi connections if you have a wireless router. Thank goodness I have good friends because I was pissed that there wasn't an Ethernet port on the console or an adapter in the box, so my bud gave me a wireless router that he wasn't using. If you don't want to go wireless or have friends like me, you can go and get an Ethernet USB adapter, but it'll run you about $40.
After your system is all set up and ready to go, you can download the free trial browser and surf the net from the comfort of your TV. If that doesn't float your boat, you'll spend an hour creating Miis (little Lego-like caricatures) of you and your friends to use in the Wii-Sports game.
Before I move onto talking about Wii-Sports, I have to mention that I've dabbled with the virtual console already. It took a few minutes to load up the channel and use my credit card to pay for 3000 Wii points to buy some classic games. The first one I picked up was “Bonk's Adventure,” that used to be only available for the TurboGraphics-16. You can bet that I'm going to be doing some classic reviews in this column from now on! More on Bonk hopefully next week.
As for Wii-Sports, this excellent pack really gives you a taste of where games and the interactivity for the Wii are headed. You can step-up for quick games of tennis, golf, bowling, baseball and boxing. Don't worry, people! Before each game, there's a screen explaining how to hold your Wii-mote and how to play the game. This makes things so easy (just ask my eight guests who played the hell out of Wii-Sports last weekend).
The graphics aren't the best, but you don't notice because you're so into the gameplay. Overall, I've been quite impressed with how easy the Wii is to use and how the games are fresh. They may not be overly complicated but I can't remember the last time having people want to spend all of a party playing video games. That's entertainment, baby.
